Burglar and signal device.



A. CASPER.

BURGLAR AND SIGNAL DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5, 19,14.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

WITNESSES:

IN l/EN TOR ff/a1- m 6% A TTORNEY ALBERT CASPER, OF VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA.

BURGLAR AND SIGNAL DEVICE.

Application filed December 5, 1914. Serial No. 875,618.

To all whom it ma concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT CASPER, a. citizen of the United States, residing at Vallejo, in the county of Solano and State of California, have. invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burglar and Signal Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of signaling or indicating devices for giving notice of facts in connection with apartments and rooms in hotels, hospitals, offices and other habitations, particularly such facts as will indicate an unauthorized or unlaw ful entrance or attempt to enter, or will indicate the coming in or the going out of a 'room of its lawful occupant, or those entitled to enter or go out, or any other facts which it may be desired to know, such, for I example, as those concerning the legitimate use of bank or safe deposit vaults.

My invention takes the form of an automatically resetting annunciator situated in a suitable place of guardianship or observation and adapted to be operated by an electric circuit which is controlled by the movement of a part which, in the nature of things, is likely to be, or is required to be handled by the individual, say, for example, particularly, by the movement of the knob of the door.

My invention consists in the novel signal device which I shall now fully describe, by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of the annunciator showing its idle position, the inscription plates being covered by the shutters. but dotted in to indicate their position. Fig. 2 is a view of the door-knobs which are used as switches to control the electric circuits to operate the annunciator of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view of one portion of the annunciator, the inscription plate being exposed and the solenoid magnet being in section. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of av door, showing its knobs and the electric circuits to operate the annunciator of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan view looking down on the shutter. and inscription plate. Fig. 6 is a top plan of one of the solenoids. Fig. 7 is a detail of the needle regulating valve and port of the dash-pot control. Fig. 8 is a section on of Fig. 2.

1 is a case, in the front wall of which is a sight-aperture 2 and a second sight-aper Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented um 16,1915.

ture 3. Behind the sight-aperture 2 is fixed a suitable inscription, preferably on a glass or other transparent plate, so that it may be illuminated, if desired. The inscription is here shown as the word Out. Similarly, behind the sight-aperture 3 is fixed the inscription In.

4 is a sliding shutter adapted to expose and to conceal the inscription Out, and 5 1s a shutter to expose and conceal the inscription In.

Within the case is a solenoid-magnet 6 having av piston-armature 7. The base of the piston-armature is connected by an arm 8, with a lever 9, which at one end is pivotally carried by a bracket 10 hung from the magnet, and at its other end is connected with a rod 11, which is guided for lineal movement in a bracket 12 rising from the top of the magnet.

From the base of the shutter 4 extends a. short arnr13,'to which is connected a lever 14 pivoted at 15. Through the free end of. the lever 14, the rod 11 freely passes, and said rod carries, above said lever, a stop 16 which is preferably an adjustable one.

It will now be seen that if no current be passing through the magnet, its armature will be down, and the position of the several connections will be such that the shutter 4 will be lifted up to cover the inscription Out in the aperture 2, and will be so held by the stop 16 hearing down on the lever 14. This is the position shown in Fig. 1. But if the magnet be energized, the armature rising, will lift the stop 16 from the lever 14, and the shutter 4 will, by

gravity, drop down and expose the inscription Out behind the aperture 2, as will' be seen in Fig. 3.

following parts, namely, the solenoid magnet 17, with its piston-armature 18, the latter having an arm 19; the lever 20, carried by the bracket 21; the lineally movable rod 22 and the guide bracket 23; the arm 24 of the shutter 5; the lever .25 pivoted at 26; and the adjustable stop 27.

The resetting of the annuneiator being automatic and dependent upon gravity when the electric current is off, I have found it of advantage to retard the resetting, and thereby to lengthen the exposure of the inscription sufliciently to insure its being seen and properly appreciated by the observer.

Q g I 1,160,498

For this purpose I employ the solenoid form of magnet and its armature to serve with a dash-pot effect in the !nagnet-cham ber 28, in connection with a ported valve-as follows Ove the top of each magnet and covering the upper end of its chamber 28 is a swinging valve plate 29, in which an air port 30 is made. This port is controlled by a screw or needle valve 31. By setting this valve 31 to regulate the capacity of the air port,

the descent of the piston-armature, and the consequent rise of the annunciator shutter to conceal the inscription, may be suitably regulated as to time. The shutter may, therefore, rise as slowly as may be desired,

thereby giving the observer ample time to be fully conscious of the inscription and its significance.

Any suitable switch may be employed to control the electric circuit which operates the annunicator. In the particular uses to which I deem my invention best applicable, namely, in hospitals, hotels, offices, and other situations in which the operation of a door is the primary element of knowledge to be conveyed, I make the door-knob the switch. Accordingly, I herein illustrate my invention in this connection. Y

32 is the inside door-knob and 33 is the outside door-knob of the door 34. The shank 35 of each knob is independent, either actually or electrically, of each other, so that 1 each knob is a separate switch. On each knob-shank is an insulating portion 36 and a metal portion 37.

38 is a-contact brush adapted to rest normally on the insulating portion 36, but upon the turning of the knob and shank, to rest upon the metal portion 37. The switch thus carried upon the inner-knob-shank 35 is included in a circuit with the wires 39, the magnet 6, a battery 41, the common return wire 42 to the battery, and an outleading wire 43 from the battery to the metal parts of the lock, to which said outleading Wire is connected at 44. In like manner, the switch carried by the outer-knob-shank 35- is included in a similar circuit with the wires 40, the magnet 17, the battery 41, the common return wire 42, the outleading wire 43 and i the frame of the lock. Thus the turning of the inside knob 32 is adapted to expose the inscription Out of the annunciator, and the turning of the outside-knob will expose the inscription In.

With such an arrangement as this, it is' from a room, will be indicated to another person whose duty it is to know the fact; and the return of the occupant and his presence in the room will likewise be indicated. It follows that the device is adapted for use in professional offices where no one is stationed in the reception room to receive clients or patients: .in which case; the annunciator will be installed in the private room of the professional man, so that he will know when someone enters or departs from the reception room.

It can be applied to any room or any place where it is desired to know when a door is opened from the outside or from the inside, as, for example, in connection with patients rooms in hospitals. Also, in banks, to notify the one in charge of the safe-deposit boxes,

-whet-her the door leading to the vault is open or not.

side knob and an independently turnable outside knob; an electric circuit from each of said knobs to its corresponding signal; and switching contacts operated by the turning of the knobs to separately close and open said circuits. A

2. A device of the described class, comprising an inscription plate bearing the Word Out and a second plate bearing the word In; independent electrically operated means for separately exposing and conceal- 10.

ing said plates; a door having an inside knob and an independently turnable outside knob; an electric circuit from the inside knob to the Out plate and a second electric circuit from the outside knob to the 105 In plate; and switching contacts oper ated by the turning of the knobs to separately close and open said circuits In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of 110 two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT CASPER.

Witnesses:

WM. F. Boo'rH, D. B. RICHARDS. 

